John Mather (artist)

John Mather (artist)
John Mather (1848 – 18 February 1916) was a Scottish-Australian plein-air painter and etcher.
Early life
Mather was born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of John Mather, a surveyor, and his wife Margaret, née Allan. Mather worked as a house decorator.
Mather studied art at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and migrated to Australia in 1878. He was married in 1882 to Miss Jessie Pines Best, a daughter of Captain James Best, a pilot of Hobson's Bay. Together they had one daughter and three sons, Margaret Playfair, John Allan, Louis Melville (died in infancy), and Leslie Frank Strand (died in 1919).
Career
In 1880, Mather was partly responsible for the decoration of the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne. He joined the bohemian Buonarotti Club, camping with other members on plein-air painting expeditions, and from 1886 served, with Frederick McCubbin, Louis Abrahams and Jane Sutherland, on its exhibition selection committee established by Tom Roberts. In 1892 he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Public Library, Museums and National Gallery of Victoria, then was a founding member of the Victorian Artists' Society, and its president in 1893–1900, 1906–1908 and 1911. Mather was a member of the Felton Bequest Committee from 1905 to 1916 and as trustee, strongly supported Australian art.
As a painter, Mather was also involved in the bohemian Artists' Camps of Sydney. In 1912 along with Frederick McCubbin, Max Meldrum, Walter Withers Mather formed the breakaway Australian Art Association.
Three of Mather's own paintings, Autumn in the Fitzroy Gardens in oils, and Morning, Lake Omeo and Wintry Weather, Yarra Glen, both watercolours, were purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria.
Residences and Studios
Mather had a number of homes and studios throughout his career, including:
1881 Residence, Davis Street South Yarra
1885 - 1888 Residence, 33 Darling Street, South Yarra
1886 - 1894 Residence, Koombahla, and Studio, Healesville
1890 - 1916 Studio, Austral Buildings, 117-119 Collins Street, Melbourne
1895 - 1900 Residence, The Pines, Wellington Street, Brighton
1901 - 1911 Residence and Studio, 156 Alma Rd, St. Kilda East
1912 - 1916 Residence and Studio, Cadzow, 383 Toorak Road, South Yarra
Death
Mather died of diabetes at his home, Cadzow, South Yarra, Victoria on 18 February 1916; he was buried in the Cheltenham Pioneer Cemeteryand lay in a grave with no memorial for more than 100 years.
Written just thirteen years after his death, "The war claimed his only son and his daughter who was well known in Melbourne music circles, lives now in the United States. It is as if "the place thereof knoweth him no more " But how can an artist ever be forgotten as long as human eyes are irresistibly drawn to the quiet beauty of his pictures on the wall?"
In July 2023 a small plaque was placed on the grave simply stating:
Mr John Mather 1848 – 1916 The beauty of his art endures.
The modest plaque and words maintain the poignancy of a grave with no memorial.
The words, his art endures, refers to his painting and etching but also the art he nurtured as a mentor, teacher and one of the founding fathers of art in Victoria.
Collections
National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Ballarat Art Gallery
Castlemaine Art Museum
Geelong Art Gallery
Launceston Art Gallery
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
References
External links
Catalogue of Exhibition of Australian Landscapes by John Mather
John Mather on artnet
Friends of Cheltenham and Regional Cemeteries Inc.
Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia
1848 births
1916 deaths
19th-century Australian painters
19th-century Australian male artists
20th-century Australian painters
20th-century Australian male artists
Australian male painters
People from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
19th-century Scottish male artists
19th-century Scottish painters
Artists from Melbourne